The South African Consulate-General’s Office sent out the following message to South Africa passport holders planning to visit the UK (or transit via the UK):

Dear South Africans,

As you are aware, the Government of the United Kingdom introduced a Visa Regime for South African nationals earlier this year. At the time of the announcement, a grace period was provided for those visitors with previous arrival stamps in their current passport to be temporarily exempt from the requirement. The grace period has now expired.

All South African nationals are required to hold a valid visa to enter the UK (this includes Official and Diplomatic Passports). A visa is required even when using the UK as a transit point for connecting flights.

The UK Consulate has indicated that from 1 July 2009 they are hoping to move to a slightly revised applications process – with all applications being completed online and appointments offered for applicants to go in to one of their application centres to provide their biometrics.

The current system provides a waiver for provision of biometrics for official and diplomatic passport holders (These visa applications are required to be supported by a Note Verbale)

Please note that the UK Consulate requires five working days to process applications.

Thank you for your attention.

Nomatemba Tambo (Consul-General)

South African Consulate-General, Hong Kong SAR/Macao SAR

Tel:       (852) 25773279    Fax: (852) 28901975

From howzit-HongKong.com:

For further information from the UK Border Agency about the new regulations, you can download the pdf-file from our server here